


Letters

by sophie_sticated



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:07:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28732428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophie_sticated/pseuds/sophie_sticated
Summary: "A delivery," the postbunny says as he reaches for the hand of the recipient in front of him, placing the letter on his palm.The recipient smiles, reaching for the letter that's all too familiar to him.
Relationships: Himemiya Touri/Shino Hajime
Comments: 8
Kudos: 15





	Letters

**Author's Note:**

> Happy birthday, Tori! I love you so much. Here's some soft HajiToris for the HajiTori nation.

Shino Hajime has lived through a life of hard work and perseverance for as early as he can remember.

Living in their humble abode which doubles as their office, his daily routine starts with him waking up early to prepare their breakfast before the rest of Ra*bits wakes up. Both Nazuna and Tomoya will then wake up next and help him with setting the table, before they all wake Mitsuru up to eat their breakfast. 

Duffel bags all lined up neatly on their wall, they will then one by one go out to start on their work—delivering letters. 

These letters have been sorted the night before, with all of them having a designated place on where to deliver. 

"Nii-chan, Tomoya-kun, Mitsuru-kun~ I'll be going now!" he announces as he slips his duffel bag on his shoulders. The rest of Ra*bits waves him goodbye as they do the same with their own bags. 

Once Hajime opens the door, the smell of flowers immediately welcomes him as the chilly early morning wind blows in his direction. He shivers a bit, pulling his red vest closer for some more warmth. They really ought to be buying thicker jackets and longer pants during this weather—he's worried that one of them might get sick if they don't! 

His bunny ears twitch in surprise as he hears a bicycle zooming quickly, waving at his senior Subaru who just passed by him with a big smile. 

He grabs the first letter of the day from his bag, reading the receiver's address quickly. Once he digests the information, he starts dashing towards the direction of the recipient's house. 

It's work time! 

\----- 

Himemiya Tori has been living a convenient life from the very moment he was born in an affluent family. 

The price of this easy life is a routine of breakfast and manners lessons in the mornings, tea and play time with his sister and their dog in the afternoons, and dinner with his family in the evenings (no matter how incomplete they may be most of the time due to his parents' busy careers). 

Tori _learned_ to be content with such life. Who was he to ask for more when he's already served with a silver platter? 

Before this routine starts though, Tori has a little secret pastime he has developed throughout the years. 

Beating his morning alarm, Tori would quietly open the curtains to his window which has the view of the city, bringing out his binoculars and journal from his drawer. 

As soon as he sees an interesting sight, he would create a short story based on what his mind chooses to create that day—who are those people? What are they doing? Where are they going? These questions would then spiral into more thoughts until he creates strings of paragraphs. 

It entertained him a lot! Well, until his butler comes around and calls him for lessons—he will then put his binoculars and journal back to his drawer. 

He never completed a single story as tomorrow is another day and he'll see a new sight that'll spark another narrative. These untold stories are stowed away in the constraints of his journal, never to see the light of the day. 

\------ 

"AH!" 

Hajime turns around in surprise after hearing a shrill behind him. There he sees a very excited pink-haired girl pointing at him. 

He tilts his head, pointing to himself. "Yes...?" 

"You have the same ears as Mimi-chan!" 

"Mimi...chan?" 

She happily waves a pink stuffed bunny in front of Hajime, squealing in delight upon seeing the apt comparison. 

"Ah!" Hajime crouches down, his bunny ears twitching along with the stuffed toy's. "You're right~ Ehehe. We do have the same ears! Pyon pyon~" 

The young girl grins, putting a hand over her head to imitate a bunny's ears. "Pyon pyon!" 

Hajime chuckles, patting the girl's head gently. He stands back up soon though, grabbing another letter from his bag. "I'm sorry, but I have to go now since I still have to deliver these letters." 

The girl nods. 

"Ah, right! Nii-chan said I should advertise us more…" Hajime shuffles through his pockets and smiles when he fishes out a small card, giving it to the young girl. "If the time comes that you and Mimi-chan would like to have your letters delivered, just drop it by our house's mailboxes and we'll deliver it the next day!" 

"Young lady! It's time for us to come back to the car!" A maid's voice calls out. 

"Well then, someone is calling for you." Hajime starts to walk away, waving to the girl with a smile. "Take care!" 

The girl looks at the card in her hands, eyes sparkling at how cute and neat it was! 

He has to tell his Onii-chan! 

\----- 

"Wait. Whaaaaa— don't just throw them away!" Tori huffs, grabbing his journals close to him. 

"Young master, if you have no use for it anymore, please let us clean it up. We can't have your drawers cluttered now, can we?" Yuzuru frowns, beckoning Tori with his hand. "You won't even tell me what is in those journals. I am rather sad." 

"Private! These are privaaaate!" Tori sticks out his tongue. "I'll find a way to store them more properly, so let me handle it!" 

Yuzuru just sighs, standing up. "Understood. But if those journals are just scattered around, I will see to it that they'll be disposed of as soon as I see them." 

"Don't say that with a scary face! Hmph…" 

"Onii-chan!" Tori's sister runs towards him, a huge smile on her face as she holds her stuffed bunny and a small card in her hands. She stops running the moment she sees Yuzuru though, opting to walk to meet his brother instead. 

"What's wrong?" 

"Onii-chan! Let's write a letter!" 

"A letter…?" Yuzuru promptly bows and leaves the room, leaving the siblings in Tori's room. "What's with that suddenly?" 

"I met a postman bunny!" She tilts her head. "Post...bunny?" 

Tori chuckles at that, looking at the card in her hands. It was anything but a typical business card—it was plain, white cardboard with neat, handwritten letters. 

"He was a nice postbunny! And he played with Mimi-chan for a bit! So I thought of writing him a letter…" She looks up at him with her signature puppy eyes. "Can we…?" 

A letter, huh. 

Ah!  
This is a good chance to... 

"Sure sure!" Tori smiles at her sister who lights up at that response. "Let me just get us some stationeries and pens, alright?" 

"Okay!" 

\----- 

"Ah, Nii-chan?" Tomoya looks up, waving an envelope in the air. "There's a letter addressed here to our place." 

Nazuna stands up from his seat, looking at the letter on Tomoya's hands from his shoulder. 

"Postbunny-san…?" Nazuna tilts his head. "Ah, the recipient is really our house...how strange." 

"We're home!" An energetic voice announces, followed by loud footsteps running towards their direction. Tomoya sighs, standing up to stop Mitsuru from running around more. 

"Don't run! What if you slip and hit your head, huh?!" 

Mitsuru stops in his tracks, pouting at Tomoya. "Mmrrrmmmh. Tomo-chan you're always so strict! You should smile more, yanno! Hajime-chan and I bought bread for all of us!" 

"We're home~" A gentler voice follows Mitsuru. 

"Ah, let me help you at that." Tomoya takes the bag off of Hajime's hands. "It's nice that you met before going home." 

Hajime chuckles. "Well, I saw Mitsuru-kun looking over the nearby bakery so I figured he's already done for the day." 

"And we bought delicious bread! Ado-chan-senpai said they're fresh and delicious!" Mitsuru perks up upon seeing Nazuna behind Tomoya. "Nii-chan! We're home!!!" 

"Welcome home, you two." Nazuna smiles at them, patting their heads. "We're almost done sorting the letters for tomorrow so we can eat right after that." 

"Ah, sorry! We should've come home earlier to help!" Hajime apologizes. 

"It's alright! Ah, that's right. Hajime-chin, do you recognize this?" Nazuna gives him the mysterious envelope. "It's addressed to our house and the recipient is a postbunny-san...and well, you're the only one who has rabbits ears among us." 

"Huh…" Hajime eyes the letter in his hands, trying to recall if he's seen this handwriting before. Unfortunately, his mind doesn't remember anything close to it. "Is it alright if I open this?" 

Nazuna just nods. 

Hajime does as he's told, sitting on their table and slicing the envelope open. He is met with a matching stationery, a slightly crumpled paper, and some candies. 

"We're gonna go away a bit for privacy, okay?" Nazuna pulls Tomoya and Mitsuru who were curiously peering over Hajime's shoulder. " _Privacy._ " he reiterates when the two pouts at him. 

"Hm. Thank you, Nii-chan." Hajime puts the candies out of the way, reading through the stationery letter first. He finally recognizes that this is the young girl he met the other day, especially with the mentions of 'Mimi-chan'. 

When he told her that they can deliver letters, he didn't specifically tell to write one _for him._ It is a really pleasant surprise though! 

After reading the stationery which just contained constant 'thank you's and 'let's play again's, he opens the other paper. 

Hajime's eyes gradually widen as he reads through the second letter, ending with a sudden push of the chair from him as he stands up in a rush. He walks towards their shared room, a huge smile on his face as he opens the door. 

"Nii-chan! Do we have any stationeries?" 

\----- 

_The early morning rush can be seen in the plaza as several people walk their way to their destinations—a man in his tattered clothes is one of them. He carries a cart of sacks of flour and sugar, his face frowning at the weight as he pushes it over._

_The frown disappears when he arrives at a bakery where a lady awaits for him. Her hands were dusted with powder, but the man didn't mind when his hands brush over hers._

_"Here are your orders for today!" the man says with a gentle smile as he puts down the sacks one by one._

"Thank you!" the lady responds, shyly smiling as the man gives her the receipt. "Tomorrow again?" 

"Tomorrow again," the man responds with a gentle gaze. 

The lady felt a flame of inspiration blaze inside her. Today's magical bread will be delicious again, fired with that warmth she received first thing in the morning. 

\----- 

Tori stares at the letter in his hands, mouth agape as he reads through the continuation of his unfinished story. He put this certain page of his journal in his sister's letter since he deemed it as something that can be just easily discarded due to its lack of _something_. It was just a simple fragment of his imagination anyway! 

He never expected a reply, let alone a _continuation_ , from this mysterious addressee. 

The letter is accompanied by a small doodle of the "magical" bakery in the story, with a man and a woman smiling at each other as several sacks of flour lie on the floor. The drawing is then softly brought to life with soft dabs of watercolors. 

Looking at the drawing almost makes him cry. It was the _same_ scenery he saw the moment he wrote those words. 

He looks at his pile of journal on the corner of his table, smiling. 

Grabbing another set of stationery, Tori begins to write his _own_ letter addressed to the mysterious postbunny. 

\----- 

It has been Hajime's new hobby to continue writing his mysterious sender's short stories and doodle on his favorite scenes based on those. He'd do it three to four times a week, almost immediately after he receives a new letter. 

He had learned that the name of the sender is named Himemiya Tori who lives three cities away from them. 

_Hajime! The last one you did was wonderful, too! I really loooooved the ending that you wrote!_

Hajime smiles as he reads the letter that came with the journal page. Right after Hajime braved to start with this exchange, he received such kind words from Tori in a form of letter and another page from Tori's journal. 

Sometimes the envelope will contain random gifts which he uses everyday and sweets which he shares with the other Ra*bits members. Today's gift was a pressed flower bookmark, which Tori says he asked one of his maids to do. 

_Hey, we're coming to your city next week. Do you think we can meet? Even just for a bit?_

Hajime feels a blush creep up on his cheeks. Tori-kun wants to meet with him! Ah, how embarrassing, but very exciting at the same time! 

_Oh, right! My journal for this letter is something I just wrote recently! I don't know if you'll like it, but I juuust got inspired by you, you know? That's why you don't need to return this one. Keep it if you want, okay?_

Hajime stands up from his bed, pulling his sketchbook from its drawer and starting a new drawing based on the journal he received today. 

Somehow, the story that Tori sent was something that didn't need any more continuation. And so, he will repay the wonderful story with a drawing that naturally just comes into him with the narrative in mind. 

Just as much as he inspires Tori, Hajime wants to convey how much his letters inspire him in return. 

\----- 

The trip to the town was uneventful, but it is very obvious how Tori and his sister are all giddy in their seats. His sister gushes about how she'll see the postbunny who shares the same ears as her dear Mimi-chan. Tori was more on the nervous side, his hands brushing against each other to calm his nerves as he looks outside through the car window. 

After he gave Hajime the details of their visit, he didn't receive another letter back anymore. Well, it's been just _three days_ since he sent that one, so maybe it just got delayed…? 

He hopes that it was indeed the case because the thought of suddenly severing his correspondence with Hajime makes him sad. 

Tori is snapped away from his thoughts when the car finally stops and he feels a hand tug on his sleeves. His sister gives him an excited smile as she hops off the car, pulling on his brother with such eagerness. 

"Okay, okay~ I'm coming." Tori follows her sister who immediately grabs on his hand the moment he comes out of the car. 

\----- 

"Mhm. And there! That should be one of the last letters for today…?" Hajime smiles as he slides an envelope into a mailbox. He starts dashing towards the city plaza as soon as he confirms that it was the case. He has one letter left for today and he'll be done with work! 

The last letter of the day is to be delivered exactly at the city plaza! ♪ 

Hajime catches his breath as he arrives, scanning through the crowd to find a _familiar_ shade of pink. He grips on his letter sadly when he does not find it, though. 

He did not get the place wrong, right? He's _sure_ that this is the place. He's _sure_ that his last addressee is supposed to be here. 

After all, it's a letter that he wrote himself. 

"Ah! Postbunny! Onii-chan, it's the postbunny!" A loud, excited voice shouts behind him, making him turn around. 

And there he finally sees the recipient of his letter. 

Hajime smiles softly at them, walking towards their direction with the letter in hand. The young girl hops excitedly, waving her dear Mimi-chan up in the air. 

Despite the loud beating in his chest, Hajime raises his hand with the letter right in front of the recipient he's been eager to meet. 

"A letter delivery for Himemiya Tori." 

\----- 

_Hajime is cute._

That was the first thought that Tori had when Hajime turns around to meet them. 

_Hajime's smile is pretty._

Said his mind when Hajime breaks out in a soft smile before he walks towards their direction. 

"A letter delivery for Himemiya Tori." 

He thought that Hajime's voice is cute the moment he spoke, blushing slightly as he sees a familiar envelope in front of him. 

It's the letter he was waiting for. 

He reaches for the letter, finally breaking in a smile as he's washed over by the same excitement that he feels whenever a new letter from Hajime arrives. 

That excitement amplifies more as he finally realizes that Hajime _is_ in front of him. 

He looks at Hajime's eyes and grins. "Thank you for the letter, Hajime." 

\----- 

_The soft glow of the afternoon sun casts over their heads along with soft smiles that are painted on their faces._

_"A delivery," the postbunny says as he reaches for the hand of the recipient in front of him, placing the letter on his palm._

_The recipient smiles, reaching for the letter that's all too familiar to him. These letters gave him happiness and seeing the sender right in front of his eyes exemplifies that happiness tenfold._

_"I'll be waiting for more of your letters," he says to the postbunny who just nods in return._

_And the letters kept coming, without them realizing how much they've already exchanged._

_That pile is never to be discarded nor disregarded—for those are special letters from a special person._

Tori smiles as he looks up at the framed drawing in his room which reflects the very same scenery and evoked the same warmth that he felt on that day. 

He grabs a new stationery set from his drawer, smiling as he begins to write another letter. 

From now on too, they'll keep on exchanging letters to convey their feelings from a _distance_ — 

—with a hope that maybe in the far future, they'll exchange spoken words instead of written ones.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are always a delight to receive and read!


End file.
